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Each employee idea saves a company $6,224, according to the Employee Involvement Association. Involving employees by getting their feedback improves morale and productivity, but workers do not always give accurate feedback. Cultural norms engrained in a worker's mind often make him skirt an issue or give a safer answer to avoid retaliation.

Privacy

Americans tend to value their privacy and like spending time alone. An employee may feel shy about revealing personal information in a questionnaire or exit interview. For instance, an employee experiencing problems at home may come up with an alternative reason for leaving a job, such as a better opportunity. In addition, employees may lie on an survey for fear of retribution from a superior.

Social-Exchange Theory

Social-exchange theory posits that people use a cost-benefit analysis when deciding whether to form a relationship with another human. Businesses often lack valid data from employees because of imbalance in the cost-benefit of performing a survey. For instance, an employee may not care to give accurate answers in an interview if he never plans to return to the company, or if he receives nothing in return, such as a severance package.

Corporate Culture

In general, American companies do not involve employees in business decisions. The detachment of labor from management often leaves employees feeling that management does not care. Thus, workers often don't take surveys seriously, and assume companies will file the survey away and never do anything with the data. Alternatively, give employees too many surveys and they quickly become tired of answering questions, regardless of how much they earn.

Improving Feedback Quality

Companies should ensure anonymity on all surveys to avoid intruding on workers' personal matters. Management should constantly encourage workers to provide feedback and try to implement employee ideas -- to show the business wants involvement from its labor force. Businesses should avoid giving direct monetary incentives to take a test, but they can hold a raffle or offer to donate to a charity if participation reaches a certain rate, suggests Inc.com.

About the Author

Russell Huebsch has written freelance articles covering a range of topics from basketball to politics in print and online publications. He graduated from Baylor University in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science.